Thorns had erupted from his flesh as he had thrown what power he could into chanelling and containing the power. He was dimly aware of others doing the same elsewhere, people who had a fundamental connection to the world's magic as he did.
He was also aware of his roots reaching deep into the ground, branches spreading wide overhead.
Thorns became bark as the transformation completed. He was aware of the world, and the sheer amount of information impacting his newly extended senses was painful as was the stream of magic he was funnelling.
He thought he'd be able to manifest his human form again eventually, sort of a solid projection, but it was going to take some time before he'd manage to be able to do that while working at the stabilization.
"RAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed some monster, its form twisting and changing.
"Sagitta magica, una lucis!" called out Doctor Mizuno, shooting it with a magic arrow.
The various Senshi stared as a large chunk of tabby housecat hit the ground.
"Tea's ready," said the English Bulldog as he returned. "No biscuits I'm afraid."
"B-b-but-" Usagi said, pointing at the chunk of kitty.
"Oh, another monster, eh?" The Bulldog nodded. "Well, better get on with it. Tea won't keep warm indefinitely you know."
"The city is being attacked by monsters, and a dog with a British accent wants to take a tea break," said Rei, her tone indicating that her Weirdness Meter beginning to get into the upper registers.
"Well, of course," said the Bulldog. "Have to keep your priorities straight after all. Come along now, stiff upper lip."
Artemis looked towards the Bulldog, then at Luna, then back to the Bulldog, and finally at Minako. Who had recovered from zapping herself and was apparently looking for a target to try it some more. "Meow?"
"I think I could use a drink," put in Ami.
"Doctor Mizuno, the wards are up," said an intern that stuck his head out the hospital door.
"Good, I'll be in shortly," said the Doctor.
The Reverend (Father) Francis Mulcahey wasn't of the sort to question the motives. So he merely looked skyward and commented. "Father, I know you only burden us as much as we can bear. Sometimes I think you've really got an awfully optimistic opinion of my capabilities."
"So, do we have any idea what's going on?" asked Rabbi Kohl.
"I think so," said Pastor Rainwall. "I can do 'Purification' magic like those wards. You, Rabbi, can do Spirit. You, Francis, have access to 'Protection'."
"What does THAT mean?" asked Mulcahey.
"We're not wizards," said Rainwall. "The magic-hurlers seem to be wizards who can access one or two elements. Then there's the shapechangers."
"and enchanted beasts," said the Rabbi. "I saw a cat chasing a bird."
"So?" asked Mulcahey, who also muttered something about being entirely too old for this.
"The bird was flying," said the Rabbi. "So was the cat. The bird was simply more practiced at it."
"It's not everyone, not nearly everyone," said Pastor Rainwall. "So it's kind of like D&D."
"It shocked me that you play that stuff," said the Rabbi.
Pastor Rainwall shrugged. "I don't play that often. Mainly I DM. Entirely different. But there is a difference between clerics, that's us, and wizards. I don't think we're getting the magic from on-high though."
"From where then?" asked the Rabbi.
"I'm still working on that," said the Pastor. "Now I'll go back to patrol. There's a physicist with Fire spells in my squad, we'll continue to compare notes."
A police radio could be heard in the background. "There's ghost riders in Shinjuku, Roppongi's broken out in mimes, There's a traffic jam in Juuban, That's backed up to Hino Shrine, There's a scout troop short a child, Oda's shown at Narita, Car 54 Where Are You?"
"Crowded," said Usagi, seeing the sea of people who'd come to the hospital.
"ELVES?!" asked Minako, stopping to stare.
"DWARVES?!" asked Rei, also staring.
"and Catgirls and Foxgirls and Lionmen, oh my," added Ami.
"We're going with the term 'Changed'," said Doctor Mizuno. "Roughly one in five people have been Changed. It doesn't appear to be based on genetics, as members of the same family can end up different races. As normal technology continues to break down, we're having to work out new work-arounds, but it is throwing off our ability to gather and correlate information."
"So, uhm," said Makoto, staring in all directions.
"By the way, Hino-san," said Doctor Mizuno, "as you are a shrine-maiden, you should be able to access spiritual powers. If you could help with going over and reinforcing the wards that our chaplain set up?"
"I'm on it," said Rei, curious herself.
"Do we have an idea on how many magic-wielders are available?" Doctor Mizuno called out at a ward desk as they passed it.
"Roughly one in twenty with some magical ability," responded a nurse. "Usually access to a single element. Adepts with access to two elements are rarer, we've only got six in the whole hospital - two of whom are patients."
"Add Miss Aino to the magic-wielders, she managed a Sagitta Magica earlier," said Doctor Mizuno, who had noticed. "What about the Sailor Senshi? Has anyone spotted any of the various magical girls?"
"No sign of them yet," answered the nurse.
"To my office, we'll have some privacy there," said Doctor Mizuno to her charges as they continued.
"You have access to magic?" said Ami, thinking this would make explaining things easier.
"I'm apparently an adept, like in the manga that Takeuchi in Pharmacy reads," said Doctor Mizuno. "I have access to the elements of Ice and Light. I haven't done a pactio yet, so we'll see if that part holds true as well."
Ranma, still following along and occasionally trying different hand gestures and attempts to invoke a spell (without result), wondered why that statement made him a little nervous.
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(Posted Thu, 07 Jun 2007 19:30)
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